![]() Louis Arena, and blew down a TV tower before causing catastrophic damage in Downtown St. Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959: Damaged or destroyed numerous structures, ripped part of the roof of the St. Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959: Minor damage to homes. May 1957 Central Plains tornado outbreak sequence Louis is not part of these tables unless part of the path of the tornado striking these counties also struck the city. In Illinois, this includes the counties of Madison, St. In Missouri, this includes the counties of St. These tables describe the tornado history for Greater St. Louis City at 32.5 mi (52.3 km) over 35 min with max width 1 mi (1.6 km) (see: Tornado outbreak of May 26–31, 2013) Louis tornado during tornado outbreak sequence of April 19–24, 2011 Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959)Ģ010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak Ģ011 St. Very similar path to 1871, 1896, 1927 tornadoes. and among top 30 deadliest tornado in U.S. Clair CountyĬostliest and third-deadliest tornado in U.S. Another F4 tornado struck the Granite City and Edwardsville, Illinois area in April 1981. Prior to that event, a F4 tornado also struck the northern metro, and killed three in January 1967. Louis metropolitan area including significant damage to Lambert International Airport, causing a complete shutdown for over 24 hours, but no deaths. In April 2011, an EF4 tornado on Good Friday caused widespread damage along a 22 mi (35 km) track across the northern part of the St. Additionally, damaging tornadoes occurred in the morning and late at night, as well as the more common late-afternoon to early-evening maximum period. Also noteworthy is that destructive tornadoes occurred in winter and autumn, as well as the typical months of spring. Louis than any other city in the United States. The second-costliest tornado also occurred in St. Louis tornado, injured more than one thousand people and caused at least 255 fatalities in the City of St. The third-deadliest, and the costliest in United States history, the 1896 St. Louis metropolitan area has a history of tornadoes. To see over 50 photos of Gaslight Square in it's heyday, check out the Western Historical Manuscript Collection Photo Database and simply type: Gaslight Square.The St. You can see the rest of my 1993 photos of Gaslight on Flickr.įor more information about Gaslight Square see: The Legend of Gaslight Square and two documentary previews on YouTube One of the most photographed spots on the Square, the free-standing columns at the former Smokey Joe's Greecian Terrace in 1993, and 30 years earlier, in 1963 (photo from the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at UMSL). Still though, the buildings were not at all beyond saving for rehabilitation (I will focus more on that concept in the next post), but were demolished anyway. As you can see from the photos, the exterior of these buildings appeared to be in good condition, although 20 years of abandonment had surely taken their toll on the roof and interiors. ![]() This row of buildings was owned by the City's biggest slum lord and most notorious applicant of demolition permits, the LRA. It seems that most of the buildings in Gaslight Square were simply abandoned after the restaurants and music spots shut their doors in the early 1970's (one lone survivor, the Prestige Lounge stayed open almost to 1990). The buildings on the sough side would last yet another decade (following post). ![]() In 1994 this entire row of buildings met their doom, leaving no trace of the former district on the north side of the street. This included the Musical Arts Building that burned in 1969 after surviving two tornados and another fire in 1962. By 1993 when I took this set of photos of the remaining buildings of the north side of the street, many others in each direction had already disappeared over the years. I have divided this post into two parts to focus of the two major waves of demolition that occurred in recent memory. Instead, you can follow the links below or read Thomas Crone's: Gaslight Square an Oral History I will not attempt to summarize the history of the Square here, as there would be too much to say. Louis' cultural history and one of the biggest missed opportunities in the last few decades. The destruction of Gaslight Square can only be described as one of the greatest losses of St. Even the fresh coat of paint applied to the buildings by Patrick Schneider of the Gaslight Square Preservation Society could not bring back the fabled block of Olive centering on Boyle Avenue. The signs asking for volunteers & sponsors and the pleas for help spray painted on the board-ups could not save Gaslight Square from ultimate destruction.
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